Chelsea captain John Terry has reiterated that he has no plans to come out of international retirement and play for England again.
Terry is enjoying a rich vein of form at the heart of Chelsea’s defence alongside current England starter Gary Cahill.
It has been suggested that the 33-year-old could be in line for a recall ahead of the World Cup finals this summer, with England seemingly lacking depth in central defence.
Following Chelsea’s latest victory over Tottenham, Sky Sports’ Glenn Hoddle and Jamie Redknapp suggested that Terry, on his current form, deserved to be part of Roy Hodgson’s current squad in Brazil this summer.
However, Terry – who quit England in September 2012 over the Anton Ferdinand affair – insists his international career is over and that his team-mate Cahill is the main man for his country.
“My days are gone and it is down to Gary and the young boys to push on for our country,” the Blues skipper told Sky Sports.
“He seems to get better every day. He is great in the air and reads it well, he is quick and he is the man for England going forward and has been excellent for Chelsea.
“We have struck up a great relationship, since he came from Bolton not only on the pitch but off it too. We do love playing together and he made his debut for England with me.
“But a lot went on with myself and England. I love playing for my country, and I was very proud to do that and captain my country twice. Unfortunately things have changed and moved on, and I am concentrating on playing well and hopefully keeping us top of the league.”
City favourites
Terry was speaking after Chelsea’s latest win, which took them seven points clear at the top of the table, but he echoed Jose Mourinho’s belief that Manchester City remain favourites for the Premier League title.
“I think we all agree – Manchester City are the strongest side, they’ve shown that in games they performed in, and they’ve got games in hand as well,” he said.
“It’s great to have the points on the board at the moment, but for sure they’ve got a bigger and better squad, a lot of firepower up front. They have a game in the week against Barcelona. If they go out (of the Champions League), it only strengthens their chances.
“All we can do is keep winning our home games and at times we’re not playing at our best but we’re still grinding out results – and that’s very much like the old Mourinho teams.”
He added: “It was not easy, first half. I thought Tottenham had a game plan to
stop us playing out from the back which worked.
“The manager made a change at half-time and second half generally we were a
lot better. The tempo was a lot better.”
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